The present invention relates generally to pallets and pertains particularly to a novel stackable pallet for growing and transporting of plants.
In the nursery business, seeds are planted for germination in enlarged multi-compartment trays or in individual small pots in large trays. Most plants are permitted to grow to a predetermined size before being transported and transplanted for future growth. A large number of seedlings are frequently handled in a transplant operation, particularly in agricultural operations. It is frequently necessary to permit the plants to attain a certain minimal size before being transplanted to the field for further growth such as for ultimate agricultural production.
Plants normally remain in the initial trays until transplanted in the field. Frequently the transplantation is carried out by machines which selectively place the individual plants in a particular position along selected rows
The transportation of plants from the nursery to the field for planting is typically carried out by placing the trays on pallets and placing the pallets in a single layer on flatbed trucks. This limits the load capability of the truck to a single layer of pallets unless special racks are constructed for supporting vertical tiers of pallets or the like. By enabling a vehicle to carry a number of different layers of pallet loads of plants, the number of trips is considerably reduced, thereby reducing labor and transportation, and thereby the cost of operation. It is therefore desirable that some means be available for stacking pallet loads of plants in vertical stacks without the necessity of specially constructed racks.
It is also frequently desirable to reduce the handling of trays of plants by placing the growing trays on pallets on which they remain during the growth and transportation stages. It is also desirable that some means be available for growing the plants in multiple layers of vertical tiers, as well as transporting multiple layers of the plants.